Suh Young sluggishly walked through the hall, thinking good thoughts towards her bed. It had been a long day of getting the new nurses up to speed with everything, and Dr. Heo hadn't been much help as he flitted from one patient to the next, leaving the majority in her care. She'd been standing for 14 hours or so, and she didn't like the thought of still having to flag down a taxi and head for home. This was why doctors were lucky. Their offices could double as their own little crash pads. Suh Young smiled a bit at the thought of having an office in the hospital and never having to go through traveling back and forth between the hospital and her house. Less time to think, she thought. 

One of the doors opened as she passed it, and she heard someone take a step out. "Suh Young?" 

She turned to see Hyun Joong peeking out from behind a door. "Hyun Joong." 

He smiled and stepped from behind the door, walking over to her. "Your shift's over, right?" 

"Ne." 

"Good." He grabbed her hand. "Come help me with this." 

"Hyun Joong, what are we doing here?" Suh Young looked around at the room they were in, trying to make sense of what she was seeing. There were two couches across from each other and a large desk at one of the ends. Around and on the desk were stacks of papers and manila folders, pens and staplers on the floor along with a few unopened packets of ramyun. 

Hyun Joong let go of her hand and stepped into the middle of the room. "House keeping time. The other doctors are swamped with patients right now, and we trade off on paperwork." He shrugged. "Tonight's my night." 

Suh Young made a move to turn around and survey the room again. What had looked messy before now looked a bit hopeless. Hyun Joong gestured at the chaos surrounding them. "Sigan isseo?" (Do you have time?)

~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ 

They sat cross-legged on the floor, a stack of folders in front of each person. Hyun Joong was surveying his 16th folder with a look of total boredom on his face, while Suh Young was hunched over, concentrated on double checking an earlier procedure in the file on her lap. Hyun Joong finished his evaluation and tossed the folder onto the slowly growing pile of finished ones. He leaned back against the couch and briefly closed his eyes. "What if we never needed sleep? How many more things would we be able to do?"

Suh Young's eyes trailed down her folder meticulously. "Yah, does that make any sense?"

Hyun Joong suddenly sat forward, a bit of the sleepiness gone. "Think about it. You'd be able to finish all of this without getting tired, you'd have enough time to give to each patient, and being on call wouldn't be a problem." He finished ticking off the list on his fingers. "There's definitely more, but those are the immediate advantages." He sighed a little and shook his head, picturing the possibilities. 

He straightened up again. "You haven't eaten yet, have you?" 

Suh Young opened to deny it, but he had already moved over and pulled the folder out of her hands. "Don't touch this, arasso? And don't move until I get back." He jumped up and bounded over the folders and exited the room. Suh Young leaned back and blew out a breath. How did I get caught up here? She thought about what she might be doing otherwise and couldn't decide whether she'd rather be solidly knocked out on her bed or here with Hyun Joong, dodging questions and trying not to push him away. Knocked out, she decided. Knocked out for a good twelve hours. She blew out another breath and leaned forward to pick up the unfinished folder. Might as well finish it before Hyun Joong came back with whatever he had thought of. 

What he had thought of turned out to be two steaming bowls of pasta and two bottles of water. "I thought about getting something else, but we need carbs, and water wakes you up." He set about clearing a small space on the floor so they could spread out the food. "Where did you get this?" Suh Young asked after thanking him and accepting her bowl. "There's a little place down the street. It's good stuff whenever you want Italian, I've learned."  

"Hmm." 

They ate in silence for a while, savoring the hot food and a chance to look at something other than folders. "So," Hyun Joong said, in between mouthfuls of pasta. "I hear you're taking on some overtime? Are you saving up for anything?" 

Suh Young tensed in her place, concentrating fiercely on the pasta left in her bowl. This was what she'd been afraid of, what she'd been trying to avoid. She couldn't tell the truth because he'd ask why, and that would only bring up unwanted thoughts and memories on her part and more questions on his.

She also knew he'd get suspicious if she didn't give a convincing enough answer to any of his questions. He'd know she was lying right away. And then, and then he'd be mad. He'd be hurt. All he'd done from the start was be nice to her. Suh Young suddenly felt nauseous. Why did she have to walk past his door tonight? 

"I-I'm saving up for a bigger apartment."

"Oh, really? That's nice. Where are you staying now?"

"Fifteen minutes out. Near Songpa."

"Songpa," Hyun Joong seemed lost in thought for a moment. "Weren't you in Jeonnam before?"

Suh Young closed her eyes briefly. Even the place seemed painful to remember. "Yes. I moved," she quickly said. Hyun Joong paused and then, "Well I'm glad you're here now." 

There wasn't much conversation afterwards. Suh Young quickly finished her meal and went back to the folders. Her eyes seemed to fly over the words, and she was done with her stack in an hour. She rose to her feet and grabbed her things, mumbling something about a long day, being tired, and sorry that she couldn't stay longer. If Hyun Joong found anything strange about her behavior, he didn't let on. He only grabbed his coat and saw her to her taxi. 

When the door to her apartment finally closed behind her, Suh Young let out the choked up breaths she had been holding in and rushed to sink into her bed.